I like to entertain. There's really few things that compare with a houseful of happy, laughing friends. I'm really glad that Christine met Deborah on the bus, all those years ago, and got us invited to Book Club.

This month's book was The Magician's Wife by Brian Moore. Set in the 1850s, in France and Algeria, it was a good read, and made us all realize how little French history we knew.

I think it's fun to try to match food to the book, so we had French wines and cheese, and then a couple of Algerian-inspired dishes, couscous, sweet lamb, and Fig, Date and Walnut drops. Quite yummy, if I say so myself.